THE WAR OF 1812 PENSION FILE OF NATHANIEL BARKER PT8

On March 4, 1878, a new pension for the veterans of the War of 1812
was approved, and by the end of the month Nathaniel Barker, now 84
years old applied for it:

  
I was struck by a few things looking at this. One was the missing
information on Nathaniel's discharge which had been on his
Bounty Land applications. At his age, was Nathaniel's memory
slipping? His statement that he was now residing in Albany instead
of Bethel  gives me an earlier date for when he and Huldah moved
back to the farm with their son Nathaniel S. Barker and his family;
I'd known they'd done that from the 1880 Federal Census but now I
know it happened between 1870 and 1878.

There are also two items in the language of the form. One is the
extensive language dealing with the Civil War. apparently if you
had fought for the Confederacy you were not eligible for the 1812
pension. And the emphasis on not already receiving a pension
seems to me to be an effort to prevent "double dipping" by anyone
who might have served in both the Civil War and the War of 1812.  

Here's my transcription. Printed text is in boldface, handwritten
is italicized, and (Blank) denotes exactly that:
 


War of 1812
DECLARATION OF SOLDIER FOR PENSION
State of Maine    
                                            ) SS
County of Oxford
On this thirtieth day of March A.D. one thousand eight hundred and
seventy-eight, personally appeared before me, a Justice of Peace
of the State of Maine, a Court of Record within and for the County and
State aforesaid, Nathaniel Barker, aged 84 years a resident of Albany,
County of Oxford State of Maine, who being duly sworn according to
law, declares that he is married; that his wife's name was Huldah
Hastings, to whom he was married at Bethel on the 31 day of Jany 1819,
that he served the full period of fourteen days in the service of the
United States in the war of 1812; that he is the identical Nathaniel Barker
who served in Captain Wm Wheeler's Company, Col Wm Ryerson's Regiment
(Blank) Brigade,  (Blank) Division, having enlisted at Newry Maine about
the 14 day of  September, 1814  (as near as he can now state,) and was
honorably discharged at (Blank) about the (Blank) day of 181(Blank); that
he performed service in said company at Portland.

And that by reason of old age and bodily infirmities I am unable to go before
a Court of Record

He states that he has received a Land Warrant on account of his said service;
that he,   at no time during the late rebellion against the authority of the
United States, adhered to the cause of the enemies of the Government,
giving them aid or comfort, or exercised the functions of any office whatever
under any authority, or pretended authority, in hostility to the United States;
and that he will support the Constitution of the United States; that he is not
in receipt of a pension under any previous act; that he makes this declaration
for the purpose of being placed on the pension rolls of the United States, 
under the provision of the act  approved March 4, 1878, and he hereby 
constitutes and appoints, with full power of substitution and revocation, 
WEEKS  &  BLANCHARD, of Augusta, Maine, his true and lawful attorneys 
to persecute his claim and obtain the pension certificate that may be issued; 
that his Post office is  at Bethel County of Oxford State of Maine; that his 
domicile or place of abode is Albany Maine.

Nathaniel Barker Applicant
Attest:
John F Hapgood
Robbins Brown

David F. Brown Trial Justice
[Note- Where persons sign by mark, have two persons witness the signature
who can write. The officer administering the oath cannot be one of the 
attestng parties.]

THE WAR OF 1812 PENSION FILE OF NATHANIEL BARKER PT7

As I've been writing these posts about my 3x great grandfather Nathaniel
Barker and his War of 1812 Pension and Land Bounty file, I've included
information about Nathaniel's farm. I did this because I made an assumption
that at least one of those land grants was reflected in the size of his farm,
especially in 1860, and that the land he received was in Maine.

It was a faulty assumption.


Last night distant cousin Chris Dunham of the Maine Genealogy Network
sent a comment on my last post in this series that included the links to
Nathaniel's land patents. They are located at the U.S. Department of the
Interior Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records site.
The first one was the 1850 grant of 40 acres:

As you can see, it wasn't located in Maine. It was in Palestine , Illinois.

Here's the second grant from 1855 of 120 acres:

Again, the land is not in Maine, it's at Fort Dodge, Iowa.


Now, Nathaniel never moved to Iowa nor did any of his children. So what
happened to the land. Well, you can't see it on the above images(because I
was having trouble with my PDF to JPEG converter so I had to use the "Snipping
Tool") but Nathaniel "assigned" both patents to another person. Further down
the page in the first image the land is assigned to a  David A. Hall. The second,
larger grant of 1855 went to a  Israel Loucks.  I can't believe that Nathaniel
simply gave 160 acres away so it's probable Nathaniel sold the land to Mr. Hall
and Mr. Laucks.

On the Land Office Records site there's a tab on the Patent image that says
"Related Documents".  That window included other transactions involving
both men. Hall was assigned land by two other veterans for a total of 120 acres,
including Nathaniel's patent. Loucks did the same in 1855, gaining three grants,
totaling 360m acres. Were Hall and Laucks land speculators, acquiring the land
grant patents from the original recipients and reselling them for a profit? I
don't know yet, and I'm certainly not going to make another assumption.

I still have Nathaniel's cash pension to discuss, and there is question about
Nathaniel's farm after that to blog abut.

And thanks, Chris Dunham, for finding these land patent images for me!

THE WAR OF 1812 PENSION FILE OF NATHANIEL BARKER PT 6

Nathaniel Barker was 61 years old in 1855 when he received his second and
larger Land Bounty grant of 120 acres. In the application for that second grant
he says he had disposed of his original 1850 grant of 40 acres but doesn't say
how or why. He may have sold it or he may have set up either one of his sons
Nathaniel S. or Amos with it to start their own farm. I've no way of knowing
for sure at this time. 

Five years later in 1860 some things had changed. The 1860 Federal Census
shows that Nathaniel had real estate valued at $500 and personal estate of
$140. He was now 66 years old, and son Nathaniel S. Barker had returned to
the family farm with his wife, the former Lucy Coburn.  From the 1860
Agricultural Schedule I learned:

Nathaniel owned 300 acres of land, 50 acres of which were "Developed" and
250 "Undeveloped". His farm implements and machinery were worth $10
dollars.

He owned one horse, three "milch cows", three "other cows"  and two sheep.
The total value of the livestock was $150 dollars. Those two sheep produced
6 pounds of wool and the cows 500 pounds of butter. The value of slaughtered
animals was $45.

Crop production included 6 bushels of "peas and beans", 100 bushels of
"Irish potatoes", and 9 tons of hay. It appears he also still raised "Indian Corn"
but the figure entered them is faded and illegible.

Sometime between 1860 and 1870, things changed. On the 1870 Census
Nathaniel and Huldah were no longer living on the farm in Albany. At age
77, Nathaniel was living with Huldah in Bethel. Maine but still working
at something or other because he was lasted as being a laborer. (His son
Nathaniel S Barker and his family were still at Albany on the farm
and doing quite well which I'll discuss later.) He'd already lived long past
the average lifespan for a male 19th century American and he wasn't done
yet, which is why Nathaniel was still around when Congress passed a new
War of 1812 Pension Act in March of 1878.

To be continued.

THE WAR OF 1812 PENSION FILE OF NATHANIEL BARKER PT4

My 3x great grandfather Nathaniel Barker had received forty acres
as his War of 1812 veteran Land Bounty in 1850 but five years later
he was applying for another bounty grant. This image was a bit of
a chore since the handwritten parts had faded. I resorted to using
a negative image to decipher it:

BOUNTY LAND CLAIM
DECLARATION OF CLAIMANT
STATE OF MAINE
County of Oxford  ) SS.
On this twenty fifth day of April A.D. one thousand eight hundred  and
fifty-five, personally appeared before me, a Justice of the Peace, duly
authorized to administer  oaths , withing and for the county and State
aforesaid, Nathaniel Barker aged sixty one years, a resident of Albany
in the County of Oxford and State of Maine who, being duly sworn
according to law, declares that he is the identical Nathaniel Barker
who was a private in the company commanded by Captain Wheeler
in the (blank)Regiment of Infantry commanded by Col. Ryerson in the
war fought with Great Britain by the United States on the 18th of
June A.D. 1812.

That he was drafted at Newry on or about the twentieth day of
September A.D. 1814 for the term of about forty days and continued
in actual service in said war for the term of about forty days and was 
honorably discharged at Portland Maine on or about the third day of
November A.D.1814 as will appear by the Muster Rolls of said Company
he having received no written discharge.

He further declares, that he has heretofore made application for Bounty
Land, under the Act of September 28, 1850, (blank) received a Land 
Warrent, No. (blank) for Forty acres, which he has since legally disposed 
of, and cannot now return.

He makes this declaration for the purpose of obtaining the Bounty Land to
which he may be entitled under the act approved March 3, 1855.  He also
declares that he has never applied for nor received, under this or any other
Act of Congress, any Bounty Land Warrant, except the one above mentioned.

And for the purpose of this application, I the said Nathaniel Barker do
hereby constitute and appoint Moses Mason of Bethel in the State of Maine,
my true and lawful Attorney, for me, and in my name, to demand and
receive from the Secretary of the Interior a warrant for the quantity due me
as aforesaid:  and I fully authorise and empower him to constitute and
appoint one or more substitutes under him for the purpose therein
expressed, hereby ratifying and confirming whatever my Attorney or his
substitutes may lawfully do in the premises
                                 Nathaniel Barker

Again, I already knew from the first image in the file that Nathaniel received
120 acres in this second Bounty Land request. But what happened to the original
40 acres, and how did Nathaniel use this second grant?

To be continued.

THE WAR OF 1812 PENSION FILE OF NATHANIEL BARKER PT3

I knew from the Index card in the first image that my ancestor Nathaniel
Barker had received two Bounty Land grants, one in 1850, the other in 1855.
Logically you expect the images to be in chronological order but as many
genealogists can tell you about dealing with Pension File images, they seldom
are so.  I think this is the "cover" for the first land grant:

I found Nathaniel's application in image !2:

"State of Maine
County of Oxford
On this ninth day of February A.D one thousand and eight hundred and fifty
two, personally appeared before me, a Justice of the Peace within and for
the county and State aforesaid,  Nathaniel Barker, aged fifty eight, a
resident of Albany in the county & State aforesaid, who being duly sworn
according to law, declares he is the identical Nathaniel Barker, who was
a private in  the company commanded by Captain William Wheeler  in the
Regiment  of Militia commanded by Col. Ryerson, which was stationed at
Portland then in the State of Massachusetts and now in the State of Mane,
in the war with Great Britain declared by the United States on the 18th day
of June 1812, that he was drafted at Newry in the county and State aforesaid
on or about the twentieth day of September A.D. one thousand eight hundred
and fourteen for the term of about forty days, and continued in actual service
in said war for the term of about forty days and was honorably discharged or
dismissed at said Portland on or about the fourth day of November A.D. one
thousand eight eight hundred and fourteen, as will appear by the muster and
payrolls of said company, but never received a written discharge.

He makes this declaration for the purpose of obtaining the bounty land, to which
he may be entitled under the act granting bounty land to certain officers and
soldiers who have been engaged in the military service of the  United States
passed September 28th 1850.
Nathaniel Barker."

The other side of the document is the following in image 13 :

"Sworn to and subscribed, before me, the said Justice, the day and year first
above written. And I hereby certify that I believe the said Nathaniel Barker to
be the identical man, who served as aforesaid and that he is of the age of
service.
O'Neil W Robinson Jr. Justice of the Peace."

Below that is the statement of Luther Lock:
"I Luther Lock of the town of Bethel in the county of Oxford of the state of Maine
of Lawful age on oath do depose and say that the above named Nathaniel Barker
is the identicle man who served as he has declared above in his application.
Luther Locke"



Lastly:
"Sworn to and subscribed before me this thirteenth day of April in the year of
our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty two
O'Neill W Robinson Jr Justice of the Peace. "

I know that Nathaniel received 50 acres on this grant. On the 1850 Federal Census
Agricultural Census for Albany, Maine, he is listed as owning 135 acres,  35 acres of
which were "Improved". The cash value of the farm was $600.

Nathaniel seemed to be doing well.

To be continued

THE WAR OF 1812 PENSION FILE OF NATHANIEL BARKER PT2

My 3x great grandfather Nathaniel Barker had a lot to live up to and something
to live down. His father, Jonathan Barker the 3rd was one of a large family
that had helped settle the area around the Sunday River in Western Maine.
There’s even a Barker Mountain in Newry, Maine. Jonathan himself was
a bit of a legend. Historian William B. Lapham tells two stories about him
in his History of Bethel:


“It may give you some idea of the toils and the strength of the men of those
days when you are told that Jonathan Barker came from Fryeburg on the
snow in the spring of 1780, up Sunday river, hauling on a hand-sled a
five-pail iron kettle, a three-pail iron pot, and a grindstone, while he
probably had on his shoulders, his provisions, his gnu and axe. He had
his camp plundered by the Indians. (p307)

A party of Indians encamped near Alder river, who offered to wrestle
with Jonathan Barker, one of the first settlers in Newry. They selected
the weakest first, whom Barker easily laid on his back. The others came
in turn with the same result, till he reached the strongest. Barker found
him exceedingly strong in his arms, but he succeeded in tripping his legs
and laying him solid on his back. The Indian rose aud exclaimed, "you
all mattahondon," which in plain English meant, '"you all devil.” (p298)

William  B Lapham, History of Bethel: formerly Sudbury, Canada,
Oxford County, Maine, 1768-1890; with a brief sketch of Hanover and
family statistics  Press of the Maine Farmer, Portland, Me. 1891

Despite his strength and physical prowess, Jonathan Barker didn’t enjoy
the same success of his brothers and became an alcoholic. My Barker
cousin Howard Kaepplein told me in email that Jonathan burned down
his own house in an alcoholic stupor. He died in 1824 and is buried in
an unmarked grave at the Newry Cemetery.

By that time Nathaniel was thirty years old, married to Huldah Hastings,
and three of their six children had been born. He seems to have moved
around a bit from 1820 to 1840 according to the census images I’ve found:
1820 in Ketcham, Oxford, Me near his brother in law Josiah Bartlett, 1830
in Holmes, Me. near his brothers Amos and Caleb, and then in 1840 at
Albany, Me.  He was still living at Albany when applied for his first
veteran’s land grant.

To be continued…

THE WAR OF 1812 PENSION FILE OF NATHANIEL BARKER

A week or so ago one of my Facebook friends gave the heads up that the War
of 1812 Pension files were starting to be posted over at the Fold3.com site. (I
can’t remember who that person was now, but if you are reading this, thank
you!). So I visited the site to see what I could find. I have many male paternal
ancestors living in the right time period who could have fought in the War but
so far I only knew of two, Amos Hastings and John Griffith, who had served.
I was hoping to find evidence of more.

The bad news was that while Fold3 has indeed begun posting the 1812 Pensions,
they only have those for veterans whose last names began with the letters A or B.
Since I do have relatives in that group I began searching and found some Barrows
relatives, but more importantly, I found my direct ancestor,  3x great grandfather
Nathaniel Barker:

What's great about this first image is all the information. I already knew
Nathaniel and Huldah's marriage date, Jan 31, 1794. It always made me grin
thinking that maybe Huldah insisted on that date, January 31st, since it was
also Nathaniel's birthday and he'd surely have to remember it was also his
anniversary.  There was a discrepancy though in the date of Nathaniel's death:
the Pension File gave it as April 12th, 1884 while I had it a month earlier as March
12th, the date on his gravestone. But just today cousin Mary Ennis (who is
looking into the cause of Nathaniel and Huldah's deaths) emailed me that
she had found a mention in the Oxford Democrat newspaper which gave the
April 12th date as the day he died as well. I've made the change to my gedcom
file. (Thanks, Mary!)


The really interesting thing for me was seeing that Nathaniel had applied twice
for a veteran's land grant but there were three entries for places of residence
in 1852, 1855, and 1878. What was that all about, and how does that figure into
what I already knew about Nathaniel and Huldah?

To be continued....